Digitaliseringen kommer sannolikt att ställa andra krav på dagens organisationer. Molnbaserade ERP-system efterfrågas i allt högre grad, vilket innebär att organisationer måste anpassa sina aktiviteter i enlighet med de molnbaserade ERP-systemen. Denna studie undersöker hur åtta konsulter arbetar med organisationer för att ta dem från plastbaserade ERP-system till molnbaserade ERP-system. De åtta respondenterna, som bidrog med det empiriska materialet, representerar olika företag. Studien finner stöd för delar av den teoretiska bakgrunden, och andra delar av studien stödjer inte tidigare forskning inom området. Det finns empiriskt stöd för institutionaliseringsteori och för vad organisationer strategiskt behöver uppnå för att erhålla konkurrensfördelar. Studien presenterar olika utmaningar inom kontextvariablerna: organisationsstruktur, organisationssystem och strategi. Resultatet av studien visar att om organisationer framgångsrikt ska kunna övergå till molnbaserade ERP-system, måste organisationer vara flexibla, vilket organiska organisationsstrukturen är. Resultatet visar också att det finns utmaningar inom den normativa isomorfismen, vilket innebär ett motstånd från organisationens IT-avdelning. Slutsatsen i denna studie är att konsulter som arbetar med organisationer som genomför implementeringar av molnbaserade ERP-system måste överväga kontextvariabler för att få en förståelse för vilka organisatoriska mekanismer som påverkar vägen till molnet. / The digitalization will most likely require other demands on today's organisations. Cloudbased ERP-systems more and more becomes a fact in organizations, and this will mean that organizations have to adapt their activities accordingly. This study examines how eight konsultants work with organizations to take them from on-premise ERP-systems to cloudbased ERP-systems. The eight respondents, who provided empirical information represent different companies. The study finds support for parts of the theoretical background, and other parts of the study does not support earlier research in within the field. There is empirical support for institutionalization theory and for strategy needs to achieve competitive advantages.The study presents different challenges within the contingency variables: organizational structure, organizational systems and strategy. The result from the study is that in order to successfully transcend to the cloud organizations need to be flexible, which the organic organizational structure is. The result also shows that there are challenges within the normative isomorphism, which includes resistance from the organization's IT-department, which has a high probability to occur. The main contribution of this study is that konsultants who work with organizations that is implementing a cloudbased ERP-system needs to consider contingency variables in order to gain an understanding of what organizational mekanisms will affect the journey to the cloud.

Syftet med den här studien var att undersöka hur ett företags interna kommunikation används som styrmedel inför en ekonomisk kris, för att i sin tur främja medarbetarnas engagemang, tillhörighet, medvetenhet och förståelse. Ett teoretiskt ramverk utifrån Contingency theory, intern kommunikation och intern kriskommunikation har legat till grund för att genomföra studien. Därefter har empiriska data insamlats från två huvudsakliga perspektiv inom ett företag. Studien tar avstamp i en kvalitativ metod med intervjuer på lednings- och skiftledarnivå. Därefter utformades en enkätundersökning på medarbetarnivå för att se hur ledningens vision och implementering uppfattas i praktiken. Resultatet visade att medarbetarna generellt sett är nöjda med hur företaget fungerar och presterar, och känner en känsla av trygghet, tillhörighet och engagemang. Det finns dock tendenser till informationsasymmetri, det kan leda till minskad medvetenhet och förståelse, vilket påverkar den interna kommunikationen negativt. I slutändan påverkar detta medvetenhet och förståelse negativt genom en begränsad information. Sammanfattningsvis omfattar intern kommunikation många olika aspekter och används av ledningen som ett styrmedel för att bygga och upprätthålla relationer med medarbetarna. Det är särskilt viktig att detta är på plats innan en ekonomisk kris inträffar.

Product Costing in the Swedish Engineering Industry - a survey  This thesis is about product costing in the Swedish engineering industry. The thesis is empirical and consists of two studies, one descriptive and one explanatory study. The purpose of the descriptive study has been to make a survey of which product costing methods are used, which elements of product costing that are considered to be problematic and what companies spend time on related to product costing. The purpose of the explanatory study has been to compare and analyze the correspondence between literature and practice regarding design aspects of product costing, by using a contingency theoretical approach. The research method that has been used to collect data has been an e-mail survey. In the 90s, a dissertation was written by Urban Ask and Christian Ax in the area, but since then no major survey has been made either in Sweden or in any other country. Since the 1990s, the production environment has been developed and new production strategies have been implemented, which has contributed to new perspectives on product costing. The results of the descriptive study show that the recommendations given in "Enhetliga principer för självkostnadsberäkningar" (EP) in 1936 still have a large impact on Swedish product costing practices. On the other hand, a trend can be noted which indicates that companies choose to work with new product costing systems such as target costing, activity based costing, value stream costing and kaizen costing. With regard to the allocation of indirect costs, the results show that the companies focus on ensuring that the allocation takes place in an appropriate manner. The outcome of the results shows that the distribution of indirect costs is differentiated, in the majority of cases a number of allocation bases, overhead components and cost centers are used. The product costing elements that are perceived to be most problematic to perform in practice are to: determine causal relationships, determine what deviations from standards are due to and calculate costs for future products. Overall the findings in the descriptive study indicate on a technically speaking well-developed Swedish costing practice. The explanatory study lends support to the hypotheses that the design of cost systems depends on contingency factors. Strongest support for the hypotheses was found between two factors (production strategies and company size) and cost system aspects. Weaker support was found between six other factors (manufacturing complexity, number of products, kind of product, the degree of automation, high- vs low-tech companies and the degree of competition) and cost system aspects. Overall the findings in the explanatory study indicate that companies do not shape their product costing according to the recommendations made in the literature.

Coronapandemin medförde stora förändringar för svenska mikrobryggeriers verksamheteroch resulterade i stora konsekvenser, främst i att krog- och restaurangbranschen i principslogs ut. Den här studien syftar till att undersöka om, och isåfall hur, mikrobryggeriersförsäljningsstrategier förändrades i samband med krisen. Det med utgång i teorier somförklarar två huvudsakliga faktorer - vikten av att reagera och anpassa sig efter omgivningensamt strategier under kriser. För att samla in ett underlag har en kvalitativ metod använts,inkluderandes åtta medverkande bryggerier - med syftet att samla in relevant material för attkunna besvara studiens frågeställning. Resultatet visar att de flesta bryggerier tog till nyatyper av åtgärder för att anpassa sig efter de förändrade omständigheterna, men också attvarje aktör påverkades i olika hög grad - främst på grund av hur verksamheten såg ut innankrisen bröt ut.

The thesis focuses on those factors which affect firm growth in the setting of the Chinese transition economy, such as size, age, entrepreneurship, resources, and environment. As regards the complexity of the business expansion mechanism, an interdisciplinary approach combining the fields of economics and management is adopted. Using fieldwork methods, new data were gathered in face-to-face interviews with 83 owner-managers of the Chinese privately owned firms in P. R. China in 2004, as well as in follow-up telephone interviews in 2006. The unique body of qualitative and quantitative data in terms of firm operation, human resources management, finance, technology and innovation, enterprise culture and competitive environment, were collected by a specially designed survey instrument, and enabled a number of new hypotheses to be tested in both economic and managerial aspects. With respect to the modern developments of Gibrat’s Law (1931) and Jovanovic’s Learning Theory (1982) in economics, the effects of two “stylized factors”, namely size and age, along with a vector of firm-specific, environmental and selection bias variables, on firm growth, were examined in Heckman’s (1979) two-step selection model with the correction for sample selection bias and heteroscedasticity. The results indicated that the “stylized facts” that smaller and younger firms grew faster were also valid in the setting of China. This thesis also explored managerial factors contributing to firm growth – viz. entrepreneurship theory, resource-based view in strategic management, and contingency theory in organizational behaviour. A variety of statistical methods were utilized to operationalize entrepreneurial orientation (EO), intangible assets (IA), and contingency factors (e.g. structure, environment, strategy, etc), and econometric models were estimated to examine their relationship with firm dynamics. The evidence suggested that IA might be more capable of facilitating firm growth than EO. However, when both were disaggregated into a lower level of attributes, the influences on growth may vary. Further, contingency theory, originally proposed for the case of larger firms in the west, was also validated in this study on the Chinese sampled firm. The combination of organizational forms and contingency configurations presented a higher power to explain business expansion. It implied that “the good fit” of contingency factors influenced firm dynamics only in a moderate way, whereas “the badness of fit” in configuration could engender either the highest or lowest firm growth, subject to their organizational structures.

Thesis (Ph.D. (Commerce)) -- University of Limpopo, 2021 / This research aimed to develop a costing model for the African Complementary and Alternative Medicines (ACAM) health practitioners to improve their products and services’ decision-making process. This research aim drew support from fundamental objectives, which includes amongst others, the identification of the current product and service costing approaches used by the ACAM practitioners and how this supports their decision-making, the development, and adoption of a costing model for ACAM practitioners to capture products and services’ cost information for improved health care service delivery. Furthermore, it sought to understand the challenges faced by ACAM practitioners in adopting the proposed costing model. The research applied a qualitative action research method. Data collection was through interview method from twenty-six ACAM health practitioners in six ACAM health care facilities. Data were collected after two research cycles in the field study through action research procedures. The participants were drawn from five South African provinces. The main data was gathered through face-to-face semi-structured interviews, documentation, and direct observation to enhance the research validity and reliability. The data were analysed systematically using thematic analysis The findings reveal that the study succeeded in providing more accurate cost data for each product and assist in the planning, control and decision making for the ACAM practitioners. The research contributes academically and to practice by successfully narrowing the gap between ACAM researchers and cost accounting researchers by providing a practical costing model based on solid practical and academic foundation. The researcher recommends that the South African ACAM facilities need to adopt and implement the ACAM costing model because it will provide them with more accurate cost data for the provision of each service and products and help in making effective and reliable decisions. Key words: Cost accounting practice, ACAM health facilities. ACAM health practitioners, ACAM Colonisation, ACAM Healing, Contingency Theory, Production Theory, Cost Elements, Costs Classification. ACAM Production Process

SAMMANFATTNING Datum:2023-05-31 Nivå:Kandidatuppsats Företagsekonomi, 15 hp Akademi: Akademi för Ekonomi, Samhälle och Teknik, Mälardalens Universitet  Författare:Earl Jerwin Sarte Alizah Malik                  (93/12/19) (00/09/17) Titel: Att navigera i det nya normala – En undersökning av Covid-19:s påverkan på arbetssättet och digital transformation inom redovisning. Handledare: Leanne Johnstone Nyckelord: Covid-19, arbetsförhållande, arbetssätt, Ekonomistyrning, Contingency theory, redovisningsekonom Forskningsfråga: På vilket sätt har arbetet för redovisningsekonomer anpassats till de förändrade omständigheterna som följt av covid-19-pandemin? Vidare, vilka av dessa anpassningar kan anses vara fördelaktiga och bör övervägas att bibehålla efter att pandemin har passerat? Syfte: Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka hur pandemin har påverkat redovisningsekonomens arbetsmetoder och att identifiera vilka av dessa nya metoder som kan bli permanenta och fortsätta att användas efter pandeminär över. Genom en omfattande empirisk undersökning med hjälp av kvalitativ metod är målet att kunna dra slutsatser om hur pandemin har påverkat redovisningsekonomens arbetsmetoder. Resultaten från studien kan användas för att hjälpa ledningen att bestämma vilka arbetsmetoder som ska genomföras i framtiden.  Metod: Studien tillämpar kvalitativ metod samt semistrukturerade intervjuer med fem redovisningsekonomer har genomförts. Slutsats: Studien har belyst konsekvenserna av covid-19 för redovisningsekonomensarbete. Resultaten visar att övergången till distansarbete och ökadanvändning av digitala verktyg har varit betydande förändringar.Vidare har lednings implementering av action controls som respons påpandemin påverkade arbetsmiljön för redovisningsekonomer.Denna forsknings bidrar till en ökad förståelse för hur pandemin harpåverkat redovisningsekonomens arbetsförhållande och identifierar möjligaarbetsprocesser som kan behållas på längre sikt. / ABSTRACT Date: 2023-05-31 Level: Bachelors Thesis in Business Administration, 15 hp Institution: School of Business, Mälardalens University Author: Earl Jerwin Sarte Alizah Malik              (93/12/19) (00/09/17) Titel: Navigating the new normal – An examination of the impact of Covid-19 on the way of working and digital transformation in accounting. Supervisor: Leanne Johnstone Keywords: Covid-19, work conditions, work method, management control, contingency theory, management accountant, Research question: How has the work of accountants been adjusted to the changing circumstances brought by the COVID-19 pandemic? Additionally,which of these adjustments can be seen as beneficial and should be considered for continuation after the pandemic is over?  Purpose:The purpose of this study is to examine how the pandemic has impacted theworking methods of professional accountants and to identify which of thesenew methods may become permanent and continue to be used after the pandemic.Through a comprehensive empirical investigation utilizing qualitativemethodology, the aim is to draw conclusions about how the pandemic hasinfluenced the working methods of professional accountants. The findingsfrom the study can be used to assist management in determining whichworking methods should be implemented in the future. Method: The study uses a qualitative method and semi-structured interviews have been conducted with five accountants. Conclusion: The study has examined the impact of COVID-19 on the work of accountants.The results show that there have been significant changes, such as transitioningto remote work and increased use of digital tools. Additionally, the management'simplementation of action controls in response to the pandemic has affectedthe work environment for accountants. This research contributes to a betterunderstanding of how the pandemic has influenced accountants' work conditionsand identifies potential work processes that can be maintained in the long run.

During the past decades, CEO and board compensation has increased substantially. Top management compensation and firm performance has been an extensively researched subject, and a large amount of previous studies have examined the relation of top management pay and firm performance. However, the findings and discussions have been contradictory and inconsistent. The purpose of this thesis is to examine if there is a relationship between the top management variable compensation and firm performance. We aim to explore this subject in further depth by focusing on the Swedish context and by studying if contextual issues, in terms of different industries, have an impact on this relation. In order to examine this relation multiple regression analysis were performed. The empirical evidence displays that on a general level, incentive systems of the top management have no significant effect on firm performance. We also conclude that the relation of variable pay and performance is contingent on industry. We therefore argue that the context in which the firm operates has an impact on the investigated relation in this thesis. Furthermore, the Swedish context and the Swedish governance model can be considered as one of the main explanations of the attained result.

Bakgrund: Nya utmaningar i samhällets näringsliv har ökat kontrollbehovet och därmed bidragit till den interna kontrollens aktualitet samt att COSO:s ramverk fått en allt större betydelse. Medelstora företag har kopplats ihop med svaga förutsättningar i arbetet mot en väl utformad och använd intern kontroll. Avsaknaden av en god intern kontroll har därmed inneburit svårigheter att undvika negativa konsekvenser. Samtidigt är företagens situation avgörande, men hur situationsanpassa har visat sig problematiskt. Syfte: Genom att undersöka användandet av COSO:s ramverk till hög respektive låg grad ämnar studien förklara hur medelstora företag i Sverige utformar sin interna kontroll. Vidare syftar studien till att kartlägga och förklara om organisatoriska faktorer kan medföra skillnad i den interna kontrollens utformning. Metod: Studien utgår ifrån en kvantitativ forskningsstrategi med en tvärsnittsdesign. En survey har genomförts av respondenter i ledande positioner på medelstora företag i fem olika branscher. Den insamlade datan har sedan genomgått ett antal statistiska analyser för att få en tydligare bild om hur och varför medelstora företag utformar sin interna kontroll på olika sätt. En del i de statistiska analyserna utgör hypotesprövning. Slutsats: Det som COSO:s ramverk ämnar att förmedla är till hög grad omedvetet använt av medelstora företag. Bristfälliga komponenter i kombination med bristfällig samverkan kan förklara varför nämnda företag antas ha svårigheter i arbetet mot en väl utformad och använd intern kontroll. Ett antal organisatoriska faktorer påverkar användandet av den interna kontrollens komponenter. Mer avgörande är däremot kunskap och medvetenhet till den nuvarande goda interna kontrollen som faktiskt finns. / Background: Challenges in business environment have increased the need and relevance of internal control, the framework created by COSO has also got attention. Medium-sized companies have been connected to weak conditions in their work towards a well designed and used internal control. Without a well designed and used internal control it is hard to avoid negative consequences. At the same time the companies situation is crucial, adaption to the specific situation has been problematic. Purpose: By investigating if COSO's framework is used to a high respectively low degree the thesis intends to explain how medium-sized companies in Sweden design their internal control. Furthermore, the thesis aims to explain whether organizational factors can cause differences in the design of internal control. Method: The thesis is based on a quantitative research strategy with a cross-sectional design. Individuals in leading positions in medium-sized companies in five different industries have participated in a survey. The data has been used in statistical analyzes to understand how and why medium-sized companies design their internal control in different ways. Some of the statistical analyzes was used to prove hypothesis. Conclusion: The information COSO's framework aims to communicate is higly unconsciously used by medium-sized companies. Defective components and their collaboration can explain why medium-sized companies have been connected with difficulties in their work towards a well designed and used internal control. Some organizational factors affects the use of the components in internal control. However, more decisive is knowledge and awareness of the internal control that actually exists.

As metodologias tradicionais de gerenciamento de projetos são caracterizadas como sendo rígidas e adequadas apenas para ambientes de pouca incerteza. No entanto, atualmente cada vez mais projetos são desenvolvidos em ambientes de alta complexidade e maiores incertezas, o que requer formas diferentes de gerenciamento do projeto, menos rígidas e mais flexíveis. Assim, o objetivo deste trabalho é propor um quadro conceitual para o gerenciamento de incertezas em projetos complexos. A abordagem metodológica mescla revisão sistemática da literatura e estudos de caso. O quadro conceitual desenvolvido, baseado na teoria da contingência, sugere que as abordagens de gestão de projetos sob incertezas são, em parte, determinadas pelas características das incertezas existentes. As respostas às incertezas podem ser orientadas à causa ou ao efeito da incerteza, e essas são escolhidas de acordo com a habilidade de influência sobre a causa, que aumenta para incertezas internas e diminui para incertezas externas. Já a flexibilidade da abordagem de gestão de projetos é impactada pelo grau da incerteza. Foram realizados seis estudos de caso, e um caso piloto, em projetos complexos, que mostraram que existe relação entre a origem da incerteza e a habilidade de influência, e entre a habilidade de influência e a orientação das ações. Eles mostraram também como a flexibilidade é importante para o gerenciamento das incertezas do projeto, associando métodos de antecipação, de instrucionismo, como o gerenciamento de riscos e a resiliência, principalmente a capacidade da alta direção assumir a existência de incertezas. Os estudos de caso evidenciaram que quanto maior o nível de incerteza do projeto, maior é a flexibilidade necessária. A dissertação apresenta ainda as limitações do estudo e as sugestões para trabalhos futuros. / Traditional project management methodologies are considered rigid and suitable only for environments of little uncertainty. However nowadays increasing number of projects is being developed in high complexity and uncertainty environment, requiring different approaches for project management: less rigid and more flexible. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to present a framework for managing projects under uncertainties, through a systematic literature review. The developed framework, based on the contingency theory, suggests that approaches for project management under uncertainty are, in part, determined by the characteristics of the existing uncertainties. The responses for uncertainty can be driven by the cause or consequence of the uncertainties and those are chosen according to the ability to influence the cause, which is higher for internal uncertainties and lower for external uncertainties. The flexibility of the project management approach, in its turn, is impacted by the uncertainty degree. Six case studies and a pilot case study were conducted in projects with complexity. The cases showed that there is a relation between the source of the uncertainty and the ability to influence, and between the ability to influence and the orientation of the responses. They also pointed out the importance of flexibility to manage uncertainties, combining prediction methods, the instructionism, such as using risk management, and resilience, especially the ability of the management to admit the existence of uncertainties. The cases also indicated that the highest is the project uncertainty, the highest is the need for flexibility. The paper also presents the limitation of the research, and suggestions for further works.